"He concluded that someone - or something - had driven the invaders from their own galaxy," Rok Wllon said. "They came to our Galaxy Prime seeking refuge, and by chance they discovered weaknesses in the economic and social relations of our member worlds that they were able to exploit - with results distressingly familiar to all of us."
"I don't believe it," SIX protested. She was a gaunt, angular, nocturnal triped with three looping arms that she impatiently twined and untwined during debate, and the diffused and softly filtered light of the great hall was so painful to her that behind her light shield her three enlarged eyes were constantly tearing. "ONE thought the invaders came from the Greater Galaxy," she said testily. "He told me so himself."
"He told that to all of us," FIVE's metallic voice announced. She was a conical head and a twig of a body surrounded by multi-fingered tentacles. Her natural voice was almost nonexistent, so she placed an amplifying disc on the table in front of her to make herself heard during conferences. "We discussed it," she continued. "I clearly remember his saying the invaders came from the Greater Galaxy, and if you would like the record searched - "
Rok Wllon controlled his temper, though his whistling inhalations became noticeably higher in pitch. "After the invaders were identified and defeated, many concluded that they had come from the Greater Galaxy. ONE continued to study the problem, and he found evidence that indicated otherwise. So he organized an expedition with three ships and went to the Lesser Galaxy to test his conclusions."
"At whose expense?" THREE demanded. Its special sphere of responsibility was governmental finance.
Rok Wllon did not know what solvency the First Councilor had used. Perhaps Supreme itself had financed the expedition. Supreme was not supposed to make decisions like that, but the previous council had voted Gul Darr unlimited solvency when he was investigating the invaders, and technically he was still doing so. Or perhaps Gul DaIT had financed the expedition himself, from the profits of his trading firm.
He made his answer safely evasive. "Supreme knows."
"ONE is commendably generous with his own time and resources," SEVEN wheezed.
"Certainly the council did not finance it," THREE said crossly. It sounds highly irregular to me. If ONE expects to be reimbursed, I shall have some searching questions for him. Never mind. ONE is in the Lesser Galaxy, testing his conclusions. No one questions ONE's judgment or competence. He is quite the most competent individual I know in everything he undertakes. What I want Ito know is this: what does he want of us that couldn't wait until our regular meeting, and
why couldn't he come and tell us about it himself?" ,
"ONE concluded that the invaders had fled from something," Rok Wllon said. "Now he has discovered what if was."
Again he had their full attention. All visual organs were focused on him, and no one spoke. "He found death!" Rok Wllon announced dramatically.
THREE emitted an angry snort. It had the disconcerting mannerism of protruding a pseudopod from almost anywhere on its rotund body - sometimes with eye stalk intact - and pounding the table with it. Rok Wllon waited uneasily. The flabby fold that encircled the Third Councilor's equator was its vocal sack, and when the sack was fully inflated, THREE won every argument, at least temporarily, because no one else could be heard over its strident bellow.
Now the sack was fully inflated. THREE demanded querulously, "What kind of a discovery is that? Is there a place in the universe where one could not find death? Death is everywhere. It is the predestined end of everything. Surely ONE did not need to travel all the way to the Lesser Galaxy to discover this!"
FIVE had leaned forward alertly. The gestures of her multi-fingered tentacles were the precise, infinitely patient, superbly gentle but irresistibly powerful movements of a great surgeon, which she was. She also was the council's medical authority. She waited politely until THREE had finished. Then she asked, "What do you mean he found death?"
"He found worlds of death," Rok Wllon said. "Worlds where entire populations died."
FIVE said in a hushed, anxious voice, "Plague? An entire world population wiped out by disease? Even if such a thing were possible, it would be extremely unlikely. Individual resistances vary so widely - "
"He said worlds!" THREE snapped.
FIVE's vocal amplifier sputtered a medical specialist's horror at the notion of a plague carelessly diffused from world to world. "How regular were their communications?" she demanded.
"As far as ONE could determine, they had none," Rok Wllon said.
"Preposterous! Plague can't spread across space! There must be a vector. Of course there were communications - smuggled goods or refugees from a plague world, secret illegal landings, failure to impose proper quarantine precautions, all criminally careless and disastrous. There always are communications!"
"None of the worlds in question had achieved space travel," Rok Wllon said politely. "And ONE did not say the cause of death was plague. He merely said that he found many worlds of death - worlds where all the larger life forms had died. He sent recordings of his findings. Would you care to view one?"
He had one emplaced and ready for projection. Without waiting for an answer, he activated it. The three-dimensional image filled the center of their circular table with a scene that slowly marched past them as the recorder moved along an urban street. It was an unending procession of weathered and crumbling bones, with this hasty recording their only memorial.
When they'd had ample time for a searching look, Rok Wllon turned off the projection.
"Worlds?" FIVE demanded.
"At the time of ONE's message, he had examined and recorded more than fifty," Rok Wllon said. "He found no world where even a single individual of any major life form had survived. Would you like to see more?"
"That skeletal structure - most unusual - could you lend me the recording for study?"
"I'll have copies made for you of all of ONE's recordings. Would anyone else like copies?"
There was no response. Rok Wllon continued, "ONE felt that a cause of death that can move from world to world - aided or unaided - also could move from galaxy to galaxy - aided or unaided. He felt that the situation should be investigated thoroughly."
"I concur as long as the investigators maintain proper precautions," FIVE said. "If they were to return to this galaxy infected - "
"ONE has specifically requested that you recommend medical specialists who will know how to prevent such a catastrophe."
FIVE acknowledged the request with a slight bow. With pleasure.
I'll send you a list today. What is it that the council must decide?
"ONE reminds us that a proper investigation even of such a small galaxy as the lesser one will require a fleet of ships with capable crews and teams of scientists for each ship."
"How many ships?" THREE demanded.
"As many as the council deems appropriate, of course. ONE suggests a thousand."
THREE winced. "Have you consulted Supreme?" "Of course. Supreme concurs."
"Did Supreme suggest where the solvency Is to come from?"
THREE demanded caustically.
SIX bent her gaunt form toward Rok Wllon and for an instant raised her light shield to squint perplexedly at him. "I don't understand."
"What is it you don't understand?" Rok Wllon asked politely.
"How can a plague in the Lesser Galaxy possibly affect us unless someone like ONE goes there and catches it?"
"It is well to learn everything we can about a cause of death that has decimated entire worlds," FIVE said. "May we never have a practical use for the knowledge, but the universe contains many mysteries beyond our understanding, both benign and malignant, and I would much prefer our studying this one in the Lesser Galaxy rather than in our own. What does ONE propose to do?"
"At the date of his report, he had found only words that were long dead," Rok Wllon said. "He first must discover whether the cause of those, deaths still exists and ki
lls. If it does, then he will attempt to discover ways to combat it. He points out that there may be many peaceful world populations in its path that are doomed if no one comes to their assistance." Rok Wllon paused. "Surely it is our solemn obligation to do everything we can to succor worlds so threatened, even if they are located in another galaxy."
"Resolved," FIVE said. "Agreed," SEVEN wheezed.
While allowing proper time for further questions or debate, Rok Wllon reviewed the likely vote. TWO, old E-Wusk, automatically supported any measure favored by his friend Gul Darr, and the absent councilor's vote could be entered in support of his own proposal. Rok Wllon's vote, and FIVE's, brought the total to four, one short of a majority, but he felt certain that SEVEN would join them. The gentle, kindly slug was at pains to please everyone - it wore its robes of office, which dried out its ultra - sensitive epidermis, merely because Rok Wllon favored them, and too frequently it seemed to cast its vote according to which faction would be displeased the least. But in this case there was a cause. SEVEN would not place itself on record against saving a single life, let alone a world population.
That made the vote five to three; but a minority of three was entitled to continuing reports and the privilege of reopening debate. It was called a challenging minority, and a challenging minority on a proposal concerning an expedition to another galaxy simply was not tolerable.
Rok Wllon turned his attention to the doubtful councilors. FOUR was the council's nonentity, a faceless life form with a row of sensory humps located across his shoulders. Now the humps were twitching and jerking as he focused and refocused his organs of sight and hearing to follow the discussion. He rarely spoke, and when he did, because his vocal apparatus was located in his stomach near his brain, all of his pronouncements arrived accompanied by echoes, as though from a great distance. His most trivial remarks were delivered with an excessive profundity of overtones, and Rok Wllon considered most of his remarks trivial. SIX's light shield made a blurred enigma of her reactions. Neither FOUR nor SIX would have the courage to oppose FIVE on a medical question without the active leadership of THREE. THREE would not oppose FIVE on medical grounds, but if it could somehow twist the question so that its own specialty, finance, became involved, it would fight bitterly and carry FOUR and SIX with it.
As the other councilors, one after the other, waived their right to further debate, Rok Wllon decided on a bold move. When his turn finally came, he carefully restated ONE's request: a thousand ships, fully equipped with scientific specialists, crewmen, equipment, and supplies as required, for use in investigating causes of death of inhabitants in the Lesser Galaxy and such related activities as ONE deemed necessary.
Then Rok Wllon moved that the council approve the request to whatever extent Supreme was willing to finance the undertaking.
THREE regarded him with surprise. "What if Supreme refuses?" "Even the initial expenditure would be substantial," Rok Wllon replied gravely, "and not even ONE knows how long that enormous fleet would have to be maintained, or what reinforcements might be required. If the council were to assume responsibility for such an indeterminate amount of solvency, we might at some future date find ourselves in the embarrassing position of having to revise priorities. I don't mean to intrude into your specialism, but - "
"Never mind," THREE said. "You're entirely correct."
"Supreme is in a much better position than any of us to evaluate the dangers ONE describes in terms of the potential cost of an investigation. Having done so, Supreme can supply solvency from its own reserves for whatever portion of ONE's request it considers essential."
THREE beamed its approval. "An excellent suggestion. I concur." A moment later, Rok Wllon's motion carried by unanimous vote.
Rok Wllon adjourned the meeting, and the councilors moved toward their private transmitters: THREE performing a series of bounces that it controlled with startling accuracy; SEVEN, the uniped, moving in soaring hops; SIX swinging along briskly on her three legs; FOUR, a biped only as far as knees and elbows, where each limb divided into three functioning parts, rocking toward his transmitter in long strides; FIVE flowing toward hers, one tentacle carrying her amplifying disc.
TWO, old E-Wusk, waddled majestically on his multitude of limbs.
Suddenly his laughter boomed out. "Ho! Ho! Ho! Any time this council deals with a crisis that quickly, it isn't much of a crisis!"
Rok Wllon, who was a true biped, had to hurry to overtake him.
"Could I speak with you privately?" he asked.
The old trader stopped and regarded him irritably. He lived for business, and he knew very well that the Eighth Councilor wouldn't be calling as a customer. "When?" he demanded.
"As soon as possible. It's extremely important." "Come to my office," E-Wusk said resignedly.
"Within the time unit," Rok Wllon agreed and hurried toward his own transmitter.
He sternly repressed any temptation to relax, to indulge himself in self-congratulations. Admittedly he had performed an all but impossible task and done it brilliantly; but his day's work was only beginning.
3
A councilor's official residence was as covert as his identity, which made it an excellent place for concealing guilty secrets. Rok Wllon's secret was a small room whose walls were lined with full-length mirrors acquired during governmental service on worlds where the inhabitants worshiped at such shrines to vanity.
Before he removed his councilor's robes, he stepped into his mirror room to view himself. It disturbed him that the other councilors, except for SEVEN, refused to wear them. He had argued that robes would vest their deliberations with a badly needed panoply of dignity in addition to reminding them of their considerable responsibilities; and they had replied that an official apparel was ridiculous for an ultra-secret organization that met privately and whose members were known only to themselves.
Traditions, Rok Wllon thought gloomily, meant nothing in these modern times. Formerly a councilor attending a meeting had to undergo an elaborate procedure of identification that had been maintained for centuries to protect the integrity of the council and the personal safety of its members. It was Gul Darr who had suggested that the system be modernized into something more efficient and less unpleasant, and this was done.
Rok Wllon regretted the change. Passage through the long, dimly, red lit tunnel, with its stifling atmosphere and tingling identity probes, had been time-consuming and thoroughly unpleasant, but he had considered it a purifying experience, a sacrifice properly required of one honored with high office. Under the new system, the identity certification of a Councilor of Supreme was no more a distinctive experience than stepping through a public transmitter.
Gul Darr had even gone so far as to propose replacing the vast Hall of Deliberations with a smaller and more comfortable room, since no one used their meeting place except the eight-member council. Fortunately the others felt that tradition should not be disregarded completely.
And of course a councilor's robes could not be worn in public. Rok Wllon removed his regretfully and stepped through his private transmitter to E-Wusk's business office.
The old trader already was settled in his favorite corner in a tangle of limbs, with his clerks crowded around him. They seemed to be simultaneously shouting details of the trading transactions that had accumulated during E-Wusk's absence, and E-Wusk was absorbing all of it and enjoying himself immensely.
A jerk of a telescoping limb directed Rok Wllon to make himself comfortable in whatever style of furniture he fancied among the assorted shapes and styles scattered about the room for the use of customers. A sweep of another limb sent the clerks scurrying away. E-Wusk heaved a sigh and composed himself for whatever boredom Rok Wllon proposed to inflict upon him.
Rok Wllon moved a chair close to E-Wusk and seated himself.
"Have you ever heard of a world named Montura?" he asked.
E-Wusk meditated for a moment, felt out a question on his referencer, harrum
ped twice, and then answered, "No. If I have had dealings with that world, I don't remember it and I have no record of it."
"It's located in the Greater Galaxy," Rok Wllon said.
E-Wusk waved a limb impatiently. "Profitable trade with worlds of the Greater Galaxy is theoretically possible, assuming that the merchandise exchanged has a high enough value per volume unit. But I never have attempted to trade there, and I know of no one who has. I have heard rumors, of course. All my life I have heard rumors of trade with the Greater and the Lesser Galaxies. But never has any reliable person shown me a sample coming from such trade."
"Gul Darr is engaged upon an extremely important mission," Rok Wllon said. "He needs your assistance."
"He has it whenever he asks for it."
"We must establish a trading mission on Montura. It must be done in such a way that the natives of Montura will regard us with esteem. No one is better qualified to achieve this than yourself."
[Jan Darzek 03] - This Darkening Universe Page 2
